John Sullivan

John Francis Sullivan, Houston, TX was born on September 6, 1925 in Braintree, Massachusetts. He joined the Lord on August 6, 2024 at the age of 98. John was the fourth of eight children born to Daniel Joseph Sullivan and Bridget Descalzo.

Despite growing up during the Great Depression, John described his childhood as idyllic. He spent his free time in the woods, ice skating in the winter and swimming in the summer with his siblings and neighborhood friends. He was a life-long Red Sox fan. In 1937, he spent 47 cents for his first Fenway Park ticket and waited patiently for 67 years for them to win a World Series. He witnessed many historical events, including seeing the Hindenburg fly over his neighborhood, and the surprise hurricane of 1938 that hit Boston while John was delivering newspapers as tree tops crashed down. He remembered Pearl Harbor and the food rationing that ensued, and he took pride in family members’ WWII service. During his freshmen year at MIT, John joined the Navy after he was accepted into the same Naval aviator program in which George H. W. Bush was enrolled. After the program was eliminated, he transferred into the officer program. In 1946, he graduated from MIT and received his Navy Commission the same day. Later that year he was assigned to a ship that traveled the East Coast. During that time the Navy was desegregated. One of John’s duties included assisting Black personnel transition to careers as mechanics and electricians. Another responsibility was to bail Navy sailors out of jail every Sunday. In 1947, he began working as a Civil Engineer in Boston. Without speaking a word of Spanish, he next took a job in Venezuela with Creole Petroleum (ESSO) which consisted of building roads through the jungle to access drilling sites. During his time off he traveled throughout South America and the Caribbean.

In 1954, John met Eulalie (Lee) Roge’, a lively Creole Petroleum school teacher from Cloutierville, Louisiana. He was quickly captivated by her. They married in 1956 and for the next quarter century they raised their five children in ESSO oil camps. It was a simple, but special life. Many modern conveniences of the day were unavailable in Venezuela, but the families in the camp were a strong support system and they remained life-long friends.

After retiring to Houston in 1983, John enjoyed golf, bridge, theater, traveling to Europe, Asia, and the Holy Land. Every January John and Lee visited friends in Mexico. They spent spring and autumn at their cottage on Cape Cod, where they enjoyed time with family and friends. They also enjoyed many holidays with Lee’s family in Louisiana. John’s volunteering included Meals on Wheels, VITA tax assistance program, and he was an election poll worker. John was a strong supporter of Saint John Vianney Catholic Church. He ran the Knights of Columbus church blood drive for twenty-nine years.

John was preceded in death by his beloved wife Lee (d. 2019), and his infant son Anthony, and siblings Marie, Daniel, Charlie, Margaret, Bill and Patricia. John is survived by his sister Betty, and his five children with their spouses, Brian (Christine), Frances, Chris (MaryBeth), Stephen (Jennifer), and Jeffrey. He is also survived by six grandchildren, Chris, Margo, Cristina, William, Maxwell and Samuel, along with numerous nieces and nephews.